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Rangers goalie Lundqvist stops Kings from taking NHL crown

New York Rangers defenceman Anton Stralman clears the puck off the goal line away from Los Angeles Kings centre Jeff Carter during Game 4 of the Stanley Cup final at Madison Square Garden in New York, June 11, 2014. (BRUCE BENNETT/Pool/USA Today)

On Wednesday night, the New York Rangers netminder kept the Los Angeles Kings from wearing the crown.

The champagne was on ice for the Kings at Madison Square Garden, but Lundqvist and the Rangers put the party on hold.

The Kings returned to Hollywood in the wee hours of Thursday morning without the Stanley Cup aboard their plane and the Rangers will be headed back with them for a pivotal Game 5 on Friday night at the Staples Center.

Just when it looked like the Kings were ready to sweep the Rangers out of the playoffs, the Blueshirts scored a 2-1 victory in Game 4 at Madison Square Garden.

Lundqvist, criticized for his inability to make the big saves during the first three games of this series, had a standout night by frustrating the Kings shooters with an incredible 40 stops for the win.

The shots were a shocking 15-1 for the Kings in the third period alone. After pullling out to a two-goal lead, the Rangers had to hang on for dear life.

“The goaltender was really good,” said a smiling New York coach Alain Vigneault.

Martin St. Louis and Benoit Pouliot beat Jonathan Quick, who faced only 19 shots in the game, while only captain Dustin Brown could solve Lundqvist as the Rangers closed the gap in the series to 3-1.

The Rangers don’t have the momentum by any stretch of the imagination, but they still have a chance. New York had to withstand a frantic push by Los Angeles in the third period to protect the slim lead.

You knew it was game on after the Rangers pulled out to a 2-0 lead. They did it in the first two games of this series but couldn’t hold the lead on either occasion.

In Game 4, the Kings started firing on all cylinders once they fell behind. No, the Kings didn’t come all the way back, but they forced Lundqvist to be on top of his game.

And they refused to give him much in the way of credit.

The Kings were a frustrated lot and certainly felt as if they deserved a better fate.

“We easily could have won that game. We just didn’t bear down at the right times,” said Kings defenceman Drew Doughty, standing in the hallway outside a quiet dressing room.

“We thought were going to tie it back up. We had full confidence that we were going to do it. We had plenty of opportunities to do it. Pucks were laying on the goal line. We gave it a lot in the third but we slacked a bit in the first and that’s why we lost.”

Pouliot gave the Rangers the early lead when he deflected a shot from the slot over Quick’s left shoulder.

St. Louis’ eighth goal of the playoffs opened up two-goal lead for the Rangers.

The diminutive veteran winger did a good job going to the net to pick up a loose puck and slid it underneath a sprawling Quick after a fortunate bounce.

But all that did was indicate to the Los Angeles players that they need to get back on their game.

Less than three minutes later, Brown scored on a breakaway when the stick of Rangers defenceman Dan Girardi broke and he ended up going in alone. Brown made a nifty deke to beat Lundqvist at 8:46.

The Rangers, meanwhile, know they aren’t out of the woods, yet.

“When you are in a hole like we were, down 3-0, you just have to take it one at a time,” said winger Rick Nash. “We just worried about this one. Now, we’ll start to focus on the next one in L.A.”

The Kings are determined to get this done at home on Friday. They don’t like the idea of returning here for Game 6 Monday night one bit.

“We didn’t play start to finish a full 60 minutes,” said Brown. “We’re not really concerned with how (Lundqvist) is playing or how they played.

“He played well for them but we have to be harder on him.”

The task of winning the Cup just got a little bit harder for the Kings.